About Me

Welcome to my blog! I'm a long time gamer that is passionate about RPGs and most specifically text based games called MUDs. I've been playing MUDs since 1992. While I engage in all types of gaming (table top RPGs, non-traditional board games, console and computer graphic gaming) MUDs have captured more of my time, energy and excitement than any other type. I have several years experience on a MUD admin team contributing to game and storyline development and player administration. In MUDs themselves, many of my characters have run organizations (guilds and religions) in game worlds. I hope both the new and old gamer alike will find useful resources and information about online text gaming here at my site. Happy playing!

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Wednesday, October 28, 2009

I’ve heard many speculate that online text games will be extinct in the coming future. The truth is that those online text based games that are keeping for the same exact market of the MMORPGs and graphical web browser games are less likely to survive. If an online text game or the industry in general wants to survive then they need to focus on the advantages that online text games have over flashier graphical games.

Portability, Discrete Gaming, and Customization

Portability, discrete Gaming, and customization are three different advantages to online text gaming that tie together with the way that text games are played. Players can chose from a multitude of different clients for both PC or Mac including java clients and telnet itself (for the really desperate). Online text games are extremely portable. MUD clients can fit easily on and run from a flash drive. In most cases a player only needs an internet connection to play. This means that players can easily access their favorite games from the library, school, work, while traveling, or any where they can get a wi-fi connection. Online text games are much more discrete then any graphical game. If someone is playing a graphical computer or web based game it is very evident at a glance. While the scrolling text can look odd with the proper use of client features an online text based game can look very much like a text document at first glance.

Gaming for Blind Players

There are millions of people in the world that are legally blind or sight impaired. For those individuals that use screen readers to access the internet the only viable multi-user RPG are online text games. Blind gamers can be just as skilled and successful on online text based games. With slight game modifications in some cases and care in game design, a text game can be just as accessible to a blind gamer as anyone else. This is another reason why graphical interfaces should not be required to play an online text game.

Low Cost

Most online text games are free, a minority of games that charge a monthly fee or have a “pay for perks” system. Those text games that are free have an obvious advantage over the graphical games that charge hefty monthly fees. The developers of these “free” games have expenses and still try to make money in a multitude of ways many of which require players to pay to get the most out of the game. There are some gamers out there that don’t want to or can’t pay for those advantages and aren’t willing to play a game in which the playing ground is not even for them.

Gaming without Cutting Edge Technology

We have all been witness to the fast pace of technological advances, but there still will be for some time those individuals that have limitations because of the system resources of their computer or the internet connections that they use. The newer MMORPGs are in competition with each other on the cutting edge and that often means a player needs to have an upgraded computer and a high speed internet connection to play or optimally play a newer MMORPG. In some rural areas and parts of the world high speed internet connections are not even available. In some cases online text gaming is the only viable option for those who can’t get past the technical limitations of their connection or don’t have the resources to upgrade computers or internet lines.